Hewitt Podcast

[dtm1997]

Sounds like you got your own issues to deal with if simply seeing his name bothers you so much.

And if his contract is what bothers you so much then it's not him who you should be bothered with. It's the AD that went for that contract because we wanted to go cheap to begin with.

And the subsequent LazyAD who begged him to stay, waited too long to fire him, used his "magic spreadsheet" to lengthen the time we paid him, didn't fundraise for the buyout, then let a search consultant hire a cheap replacement.

I will never stop.

 

[Techster]

I vaguely remember the Deron Williams story. Man, that would have been an INSANE backcourt with Deron/Jack/Will...though he mentioned that he promised Jack he was done recruiting PGs. Recruiting "what ifs" are always a fascinating story...GT has our own share of them.

Good for Paul Hewitt about not stepping on GT's toes when Chernoff kept pressing him about our situation since he left. You could tell Chernoff was setting him up to tee off...but Paul wasn't having it.

Wasn't it the Knicks rumors what precipitated Braine to give Hewitt the automatic rollover contract? If so, Hewitt pretty much just admitted his agent did a heck of a job getting Hewitt one of the best/worst contracts (depending on your POV) in sports coaching history.

I do remember we were basically crawling into the Finals against UConn (who had Okafor...another recruiting "what if" for us). Our team was just beat up. To this day, because of how several games ended, the most fun tournament for me as a GT fan.

It's a shame our fans hold his contract against him...that was just good business on his part. The blame is not on Hewitt, it's on those that agreed to give it to him. Hewitt is easily the best GT BBAll coach outside of Cremins in my lifetime of being a GT fan.

 

[gameface]

And the subsequent LazyAD who begged him to stay, waited too long to fire him, used his "magic spreadsheet" to lengthen the time we paid him, didn't fundraise for the buyout, then let a search consultant hire a cheap replacement.

I will never stop.

It is not seeing his name so much as it is seeing the dark print; which means there is a new post to see and it turns out to be about Hewitt. As to who is responsible for the contract. Both are.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Pleasantly surprised by the interview. Stated that he learned a lot and would've handled things differently looking back on it. Wish they would've gotten into the whole "player development vs. team development" conversation and more about how the contract stuff went down and how that impacted public perception. He did state that he learned a lot and would've acted differently today than he did then. I agree with Ryan to a large degree, seemed like he got a big head or something after the Final Four run and wanted to be more about the BCA and getting kids to the NBA and not as much about the team. At least that was my perception and the contract sort of gave him the leeway to do that. I come away from the interview feeling better about him than I was prior to it and having fond memories of being in San Antonio and the thrill and afterglow of the game against Oklahoma State and how great that was and how rare it is to feel something like that at Georgia Tech.

 

[RyanS12]

I vaguely remember the Deron Williams story. Man, that would have been an INSANE backcourt with Deron/Jack/Will...though he mentioned that he promised Jack he was done recruiting PGs. Recruiting "what ifs" are always a fascinating story...GT has our own share of them.

Good for Paul Hewitt about not stepping on GT's toes when Chernoff kept pressing him about our situation since he left. You could tell Chernoff was setting him up to tee off...but Paul wasn't having it.

Wasn't it the Knicks rumors what precipitated Braine to give Hewitt the automatic rollover contract? If so, Hewitt pretty much just admitted his agent did a heck of a job getting Hewitt one of the best/worst contracts (depending on your POV) in sports coaching history.

I do remember we were basically crawling into the Finals against UConn (who had Okafor...another recruiting "what if" for us). Our team was just beat up. To this day, because of how several games ended, the most fun tournament for me as a GT fan.

It's a shame our fans hold his contract against him...that was just good business on his part. The blame is not on Hewitt, it's on those that agreed to give it to him. Hewitt is easily the best GT BBAll coach outside of Cremins in my lifetime of being a GT fan.

Ya, it’s not like Paul wrote up the contract, walked into the Prez and AD office with a gun and demanded that contract. His agent did his job and Paul did what we’d all do. Take it! I can honestly say I was done with him in 2006 and 2008 but he saved himself with great recruiting classes but underachieved. 10 years later I can look back and appreciate the 04 season and thank him for that but it was in everyone’s best interest to separate. Unfortunately it left us in a financial hole and ruined the basketball program.

 

[CuseJacket]

so what is the back story on this, if you can share.

I'll paraphrase the interview because what was shared with me in full color is not meant to be public:

• Paul agreed to take the St John's job

Pause... everyone think about that before investing emotional energy into the parameters of the initial contract. Paul was ready to forego his 7-year rollover and leave. In large part because he clearly observed the lack of support and leadership. One thing I'll add is that Paul was on vacation when the agreement was reached, and he asked to meet with the team before going public on his move to NYC, which may have in part enabled the next sequence of events.

• Paul phrased the next step as if Hogan convinced him to come back. Sure, that happened. Wayne did not go rogue and act in his own interests. He was asked to do this by his boss, and then Paul met with Wayne's boss, and received assurances that I will not put in writing.
• One year later, Hogan's boss fired Paul

If I were to add the color of what was allegedly said between the parties during steps 2 and 3, I think GT nation would storm and riot at the Clemson AD's office (with full adherence to Covid safety protocols of course).

If I ever catch folks in person at a game, I'll open up more. For now let's just be clear that the antagonist of GT basketball's lost decade now works for our rival in South Carolina. Arguably did more damage to GT while in Atlanta than after.

 

[gt02]

I'll paraphrase the interview because what was shared with me in full color is not meant to be public:

• Paul agreed to take the St John's job

Pause... everyone think about that before investing emotional energy into the parameters of the initial contract. Paul was ready to forego his 7-year rollover and leave. In large part because he clearly observed the lack of support and leadership. One thing I'll add is that Paul was on vacation when the agreement was reached, and he asked to meet with the team before going public on his move to NYC, which may have in part enabled the next sequence of events.

• Paul phrased the next step as if Hogan convinced him to come back. Sure, that happened. Wayne did not go rogue and act in his own interests. He was asked to do this by his boss, and then Paul met with Wayne's boss, and received assurances that I will not put in writing.
• One year later, Hogan's boss fired Paul

If I were to add the color of what was allegedly said between the parties during steps 2 and 3, I think GT nation would storm and riot at the Clemson AD's office (with full adherence to Covid safety protocols of course).

If I ever catch folks in person at a game, I'll open up more. For now let's just be clear that the antagonist of GT basketball's lost decade now works for our rival in South Carolina. Arguably did more damage to GT while in Atlanta than after.

Thanks. His comments on the administration were very interesting to me. For example, I remember the reaction to the Dave Braine statements re the football program, and Paul’s perspective had me rethinking a lot of things.

 

[dtm1997]

<-- LazyAD

I'll paraphrase the interview because what was shared with me in full color is not meant to be public:

• Paul agreed to take the St John's job

Pause... everyone think about that before investing emotional energy into the parameters of the initial contract. Paul was ready to forego his 7-year rollover and leave. In large part because he clearly observed the lack of support and leadership. One thing I'll add is that Paul was on vacation when the agreement was reached, and he asked to meet with the team before going public on his move to NYC, which may have in part enabled the next sequence of events.

• Paul phrased the next step as if Hogan convinced him to come back. Sure, that happened. Wayne did not go rogue and act in his own interests. He was asked to do this by his boss, and then Paul met with Wayne's boss, and received assurances that I will not put in writing.
• One year later, Hogan's boss fired Paul

If I were to add the color of what was allegedly said between the parties during steps 2 and 3, I think GT nation would storm and riot at the Clemson AD's office (with full adherence to Covid safety protocols of course).

If I ever catch folks in person at a game, I'll open up more. For now let's just be clear that the antagonist of GT basketball's lost decade now works for our rival in South Carolina. Arguably did more damage to GT while in Atlanta than after.

 

[Techster]

...and then we followed up DRad with Bobinski.

Not sure what GT did to the sports admin Gods, but man, someone needs to get an exorcist to cleanse the bad juju.

 

[CuseJacket]

Thanks. His comments on the administration were very interesting to me. For example, I remember the reaction to the Dave Braine statements re the football program, and Paul’s perspective had me rethinking a lot of things.

Agree with you re: rethinking things after having a few opportunities to hear the post mortem from those directly in the know.

To add, during the pod, Paul tiptoed around his perception of the changing priorities with the AD transition. I've heard specific examples of how many of the coaches perceived the change, including the one you cited re: Braine providing air cover for Gailey on what could be achieved at GT. Obviously optics were bad publicly on the "can't win 10 games at GT", but the internal perception was that the statement was made to deflect animosity from Gailey onto Braine himself. I don't really agree with the approach, but that's how it was conveyed to me, and of course the GT coaches appreciated it.

Additionally the fundraising approach changed seismically across ADs, including how the coaches across sports were expected to be involved in the process. At the risk of oversimplifying, the coaches perceived that everyone was in it together with Braine (with football being the bell cow). Upon the new AD, it was more fending for yourself, including less AD support.